Grassroots Toolkit

So you’ve fallen in love with Alaska and want to do your part to help protect this amazing place?

A great way to increase awareness and the number of those who care is to talk with your friends, family, neighbors, groups you are a part of, or your community about your concerns. Alaska Wilderness League has many “step-by-step tool kit” ideas to help get you started and you can find them here.

Grassroots Toolkit

We hope that the materials here in this grassroots toolkit can help you build a local network of Alaska advocates. The following documents are available in PDF.

Organizing A Successful Event
Whether you’re organizing a rally, a petition drive, a benefit concert, a brown bag lunch, a speaker’s panel or any other event, your success will always depend on how the event is organized.

Tips on Communicating with Congress
There are a number of ways to communicate with Congress- each are effective ways to demonstrate your concerns to your Representative or Senators.

Tabling
Tabling is a term used to refer to doing outreach to the general public about issues you are concerned about. Often-times, you don’t even need a table. Tabling allows you to educate a broad array of people about Alaska issues.

Giving Presentations or Showing Videos
Giving presentations or showing videos about special places in Alaska is an excellent way to educate the public and get them excited about making a difference for Alaska wild lands and waters. It doesn’t have to be daunting or scary, it can be as simple as inviting a few friends over for coffee or as big as presenting to a large audience in a public venue.

Hosting a House Party
House parties are a great way to both educate and motivate concerned citizens about keeping Alaska wild. Our new videos on the Tongass National Forest, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska show the beauty and diversity of these unique landscapes. Just as important, these videos will compel viewers to do something, to take action, to make a difference.

District Meetings
District meetings are a highly effective way to let your Representative and Senators know that their constituents are concerned about keeping Alaska wild.

Town Hall Forums/Meet Your Member EventsMany representatives and senators host public town hall forums or meet your member events when they are back in their district or state. This is a great opportunity to let your representatives know about the issues you are passionate about.

Press Events
If you have a compelling message or visual, you may want to consider organizing a press event to increase awareness of Alaska public lands issues in your community.

Letters to the Editor
A Letter-to-the Editor (LTE) is able to reach large audiences. The LTE section of the newspaper is read more frequently than any other section.

Writing and Submitting OpEds
Op-ed means “opposite editorial.” In other words, it appears on the page facing the editorial page. Op-eds are a great way to educate the public about Alaska public lands and waters.

Working with Editorial Boards
Editorial writers have a strong effect on the opinions of their readers. Therefore, by convincing editorial writers to take an editorial position on your issue, you could potentially influence thousands of others.

Social Media

Are you into online social networking? If you use facebook or twitter, now there’s a whole new way for you to support the League. Here’s how you can help:

Facebook: Follow the League on facebook on our page: Keep Alaska Wild! We’ll post action opportunities, league videos and more – please spread them far and wide.

Twitter: Follow the League on twitter as we share important action opportunities, breaking news and fun Alaska-related items from around the internet at twitter.com/alaskawild

We look forward to interacting with you in these exciting new venues and hope that you will bring your friends and followers along in support of keeping Alaska wild!

Activities for Young and Old Alike

Build and fly an Arctic kite
Concerned citizens across the country will be flying kites symbolizing the birds that come through their areas on their way home to the Refuge. Download your materials and fly them with the rest of their flock: Invite your friends and family to a mini-migration of your own!

Host an Arctic Garden Party
Growing an Arctic Garden will help you attract Arctic migratory birds to your backyard. Learn how to involve your friends and family and we’ll send you seed packets and party materials to get started.

Paper Swans
Each year, waterfowl migrate great lengths to spend their summers in the Teshekpuk Lake area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. You can help us work towards the study and protection of important areas within the Reserve with this fun craft project.

Polar Bear Masks
America’s Arctic is home to the only polar bears in America. As part of your outreach and education efforts, you may want to use these fun, printable polar bear masks.

Alaska Wilderness League staff are here to help.

The League has experienced grassroots organizers working all across the country. Please feel free to contact any of us for help and assistance. In addition to the materials provided here, we also have brochures, keychains, pens, and even polar bear costumes that can be sent to you for your outreach activities. If we can provide you with any further information or materials, please don’t hesitate to contact us: info@alaskawild.org or 202-544-5205.

Alaska Wilderness League galvanizes support to secure vital policies that protect and defend America’s last great wild public lands and waters. Visit the website of our sister organization Alaska Wilderness Action to learn more about its legislative and political advocacy to protect Alaska’s wild places.